Steam-turbine-driven locomotive



C. KOHLER.

STEAM TURBINE DRIVEN LOCOMOTIVE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 28, 1920.

1,396,220, Patented Nov. 8, 1921.

fig!

-1.9 2 20 ELI 1s figz 1 7} z'enfor 6W a A 544% oomun 1011mm, or21131011, swmzmmmn. srEm-ronBnwE-nnivnu Loconorm.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented N ov.-8, 1921.

Application filed September 28, 1920. Serial Illo. 418,350.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

' Be it known that I, CONRAD KoHLEn, a citizen of the Re ublicofSwitzerland, residing at Zurich, witzerland, have invented certain newand useful Improvements in Steam-Turbine-Driven Locomotives; and I do=hereb declare the following to be a clear, full, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable other skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing, and to letters or figures of reference markedthereon, which form a part of this specification.

This inventlon relates to improvements in steam-turbine drivenlocomotives.

After steam-turbines have been perfected with respect to their designand workmanship and have been adopted for power generating purposes inalmost every branch of industry owing to their economical advantages,the ideasuggested itself to utilize the steam-turbine drive also with,locomo tives. Although a great many proposals have been made to thisendthe efforts of building an eflicient steam-turbine driven locomotivehave not proved successful up to the present.

In order to obtain a low coal consumption it is necessary that thesteam-turbine operate with condensation. I A steam-turbine drivenlocomotive has therefore to be provided with a condenser and with allthe auxiliaries necessary for obtaining an eflicient condensation of theexhaust steam. Further the q transmission of the driving power from thereliable manner.

high speed steam-turbine to the driving wheels has to be effected in athoroughly In constructing steamturbine driven locomotives presentthemselves inasmuc as the design and the arrangement of the difierentparts of a locomotive are subjected to limits in the longitudinal,vertical and transverse directions which limits have to be strictladhered to. The cross-section of a locomotive is defined by the outlineof the clearance gage within which all the parts must be arranged andthe'over all length of a locomotive should not exceed a certain lengthwhich is fixed by existing turntables and the like.

The object of the present invention is a steam turbine driven locomotivethe various parts of which are so constructed and arranged that-thelocomotive complies with the above mentioned requirements with greatdifficulties regard to adhering to the prescribed clearance gage and toa fixed length over the buffers.

According to the invention the steamturbine driven locomotive comprisesa steamboiler fitted with an induced draft furnace, an mpulsesteam-turbine arranged in the 'front part of the locomotive and placedtransversely to the longitudinal axis of the latter; This turbine isconnected by means of two exhaust pipes to a surface-condensng plant,the turbine driving through the nterposition of two spur-wheel gearingsan intermediate shaft mounted in bearings rigidly fixedto the locomotiveframe. From said intermediate shaft rotation is imparted to the drivingaxles by parallel crank gear. A device for re-cooling the COOIil'lgwater used for condensing urposes is arranged behind the steam boiferand the cab at distance from the latter that is at least equal to theeifective height channel, in WhiChrB-COOling device the contrivance foreffecting a rain-like distributlon of the water to be cooled is arrangedinside a vaulted-door shaped structure which closely corresponds at thetop and at the sides to the outline defined by the railway clearancegage. The'interior of this vaulted-door shaped structure forms a coolingchannel-with a free entrance and passage area that is as large aspossible and through whi fl1 'the cooling air flows only once in alongitudinal direction. Furthermore the .main steam turbine as well asall the other auxiliary steam-driven power engines used for the forceddraft furnace, for feeding the boiler, and for the condensing andrecooling plant are arranged in the immediate neighborhood of thesteam-boiler and for the greater part below its vertical center planewhereby flexible steam conduits are avoided. exemplification' of theinvention is shown on the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a side-view of the locomotive; Fig. 2 illustrates on alarger scale a sideview of the front part of the locomotive shown inFig. 1; Y

Fig. 3 ShOWs in a plan-view the arrangement of the steam-turbine, thegearings an the'condenser;

Fig. 4 is a transverse section through the cooling channel.

1 denotes the boiler provided with an 1nduc'ed draft furnace worked bymeans of a of the cooling i 6 through blower 2 forcing compressed airinto the ash-pit below the grate. i

The drive of the locomotive is effected by an, impulse steam-turbine 3working with 5 condensation and placed transverse to the direction ofrunning. The steam-turbine runs at a high speed. The size of the turbineis so small that it can be arranged in the front part of the locomotivewith its and furthermore with the small diameters of the disks afavorable ratio is obtained between the velocity of'the steam and thecircumferential velocity, and thereforea favorable steamconsumptionresults. The transmission of power from the high speed turbine 3 to thedriving wheels 4:, 5 is efi'ected by means of a double spur-gearing (6,7 and 8, 9) to an intermediate shaft 10 from the latter by means of aparallel crank gear 11, 12 to the driving wheels 4 and 5. The

spur-gearings 6, 7 and 8, 9 as well as the intermediate shaft 10 aremounted in bearings rigidly fixed to the rigid locomotive frame 13 andare arranged for the greater part below the locomotive. In this mannerthe problem of transmitting the power from the high speed turbinerigidly fixed to the spring mounted locomotive driving wheels issolvedin an efficient way which provides at the same time for the variation ofthe elevation of the turbine with regard to the position of the driving.wheels.

The condensation of the exhaust steam of the turbine is carried out in asurface condenser 14 arranged below the locomotive boiler in thevertical center plane of the latter. The condenser 14-. is providedwith'two inlet branches arranged to the left and the 9 right of saidplane which are connected by means of" two conduits 15 and 16 to two ex-.haust branches of thesteam turbine 3. The

' condenser is so shaped as to find accommodation below the boiler andwithin the locomo- 4 t'ive frame.

' The cooling water required fortondensing purposes in the surfacecondenser is cooled in a re-cooling device 17 arranged on a tenderbehind the steam-boiler. In this re cooling device'17 the cooling waterflows in a rain-like distribution in the vertical direction through acooling channel 18, in which it is cooled down by an air current inducedupon the running of the locomotive, which .55 currentfiows through thecooling channelin a substantially horizontal direction. In or der toobtain a re-cooling device of the highest efliciency the'cross-sectionof the cooling channel is shaped like a vaulted door structure, theoutline of which corresponds in its.

upper part and at thetwosides closely tothe.

railway clearance gage 18 and the interior of 'flmwhich structureprovides for a free'entrance for the air current to pass and passagearea Furthat is as large as possible.

axis transverse to the direction of running frame to the thermore thefront end of the cooling chan- .nel is arranged at a distance 19' fromthe cab 20 which is at least equal to the effective height of thecoolingchannel, so that the entrance ,of the air into the cooling channel isnot restricted by any structures in front of it. By means of a coolingwater pump 21, driven by steam turbine 22, the cooling water is forcedthrough the surface condenser 14 and through a conduit 23 to adistributer 24 arranged above the cooling channel 18 from where it fallsthrough the cooling channel in a rain-like distribution and is collected.in tanks 25 which are connected together by .a conduit 31 below'thcchannel. The water is drawn from the tanks by the pump 21 through aconduit 26 back to the condenser 14. The fioor of the cooling channel israised at its rear end 27 in broad bend so that particles of waterentrained by the current of air may be deposited thereon.

The rear end of the cooling channel is at such an'eleva-tion 28 that theevaporated water 'is carried above the following carriages of the train.

The arrangement is so chosen that the cooling water the quantity ofwhich is at least equal .to 120 times the weight of steam flows twicethrough the surface condenser 14 in the longitudinal direction thereofand once through the channel 18 of the re-cool- By the combination ofthe above described constructional parts, which as such are partly.lmown, of the locomotive an efiicient' unit is produced 2'. e. alocomotive driven by a steam turbine working with condensation, by whichlocomot ve a cons derable saving in the consumption of coal as comparedwith existing locomotives, is attained.

I claim 1. A steam-turbine driven locomotive, comprising a steam-boilerhaving an induced draft furnace, a surface condensing plant, an impulsesteam-turbine arranged in the front part of the locomotive with itsaxistransversetothe direction of running, transmission gearing consisting ofspur-gearings, an intermediate shaft and crank gearinterposed'betweensaid steam-turbine and the driving wheels, a re-cooling device forcoolthe waterused for condensing purposes arranged behind the' steamboiler, a, device for effecting a rain-like *distribution of the coolingwater provided in said re'cooling formed by the interior structurethrough which channel the cooling locomotive frame,

. device and shaped like a vaulted door structure the outline of whichis within the railway clearance gage, a cooling channel air currentflows once a longitudinal direction, and auxiliary steam driven powerengines for driving the furnace blower, the boiler feed device and thepump used for condensing and re-cooling purposes, which auxiliaryengines are arranged closely to the steam-boiler and for the greaterpart below its horizontal center plane whereby any flexiblesteam-conduits are avoided.

2. A steam-turbine driven locomotive, comprising a steam-boiler havingan induced draft furnace worked by an undergrate blower, an impulsesteam-turbine arranged in the front part of the locomotive with its axistransverse to the direction of running, a surface condensing plantarranged below the boiler and connected by means of two conduitssymmetrically arranged to the 1ongitudinal center plane of thelocomotive with two exhaust branches provided on the turbine, twospur-gearings interposed between said steam-turbine and an intermediateshaft mounted in bearings rigidly fixed to the parallel crank gear opofsaid vaulted door Y eratively connecting said intermediate shaft vto thedriving wheels,

a re-cooling device for cooling the water usedfor, condensing purposesarranged behind the locomotive at a distance from the cab that is atleast equal to the effective height of the cooling channel. a device forefi'ecting a rain-like'distribution of the cooling Water provided insaid re-cooling device and shaped like a'vaulted door structure, acooling channel formed by the interior of said vaulted door shapedstructure having a freeentrance \and passage area that is as large aspossible through which channel the cooling air current induced upon therunning of the vehicle flows once in a longitudinal direction, a pumpfor forcing the cooling water in a circuit through said surface;condenser and said distributing device, and auxiliary steam driven powerengines for actuating the furnace blower, the boiler feed device, andsaid cooling water pump which auxiliary engines are arranged closely tothe steamboiler and for the greater part below its horizontal centerplane whereby any flexible steam conduits are avoided.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, 1 have signedmy name.

CONRAD KOHLER.

